The upcoming Disney movie releases could have been right in front of us all this time and we wouldn’t have realized it.
By tying its theme parks closely to movie releases, Disney tests new things and reinforces its intellectual property with attractions. Recent expansions at Disney parks have coincided with upcoming movies, demonstrating a strategy to tie attractions to movie promotions. Bob Iger has revealed more Moana attractions for the parks, outlining sequels and live-action updates, showing a coordinated approach to moving the IP forward.
An evolving strategy
The Walt Disney Company has been shifting its strategy by using its financial margins to focus on specific areas of growth that continue to satisfy fans. One of the company’s biggest financial assets is the Disney parks, which generate more revenue than any other aspect of the brand. The parks are a fantastic resource for building intellectual property, and while Disney may not have given them the love they deserve in the past, this has changed with a series of new expansions. Each Disney park has been updated for a modern audience with new attractions and shows, new restaurants and hotels, and fan favorites.
It seems that Disney is finally not ignoring the park’s fans, and is instead giving its audience a reason to keep visiting these physical locations. However, the company’s film landscape is also being rebuilt, with changes across the board to maintain quality over quantity. Those two areas of change need to work hand-in-hand, and a recent strategy shows that updates to parks can have more impact on movies and TV shows than many think.
The relationship between parks and cinema
For a long time, the Disney parks and the movies felt very different. There have been many Disney movies based on park attractions, which was a natural and obvious way to tie together what was happening in the theaters and the virtual world. It made sense to bring stories like The Haunted Mansion or Tomorrowland to a wider audience while increasing the value of the park. Pirates of the Caribbean became a household name and was the pinnacle of this adaptation style, a strategy that worked for a while. However, outside of those live adaptations, it was rare to see the parks made before a theatrical release.
Disney finally got around to the idea that parks can serve as wonderful testing grounds for new things. Not only is modern theme park franchises driven to continue to innovate and expand, but there is also a constant analytical side to this process. How these attractions perform at theme parks affects how brands perform at the box office.
For example, Toy Story has found ways to incorporate the Pixar brand as part of its attractions, with ever-popular builds that have, in turn, spawned sequels and spin-offs in Woody’s world. It’s easy to see how the popularity of one drives another and vice versa, increasing brand awareness and allowing fans to interact with their favorite characters in unique and new ways.
Trailers and attractions
In recent years, these changes have served as precursors to future trailers. To prepare the public for what’s to come and gauge fan reactions to these changes, Disney has added attractions at the parks that tease upcoming movies or shows. Tron, for example, wasn’t a big brand in Disney’s arsenal, and after Tron Legacy it was always in doubt whether the franchise would ever be seen again. But the Tron Lightcycle Race attraction has proven to be a huge success, bringing the franchise back into the public consciousness and supporting the promotion of the third Tron movie.
Disney CEO Bob Iger recently revealed that Disney parks will be getting more Moana attractions, coinciding with the film’s sequel and live-action remake. It’s no surprise, but it backs up what fans are starting to see. Other franchises such as Zootopia have seen a rise in popularity as new lands are created in the parks, and the relaunch of the series seems to be supported by the positive reception of the attractions.
Ironically, the biggest indicator of a franchise’s popularity and potential return is the characters that appear in the parks. After The Mandalorian’s fame, the audience’s love and greetings for Grogu was certainly the reason why The Mandalorian and Grogu movie was greenlit. Likewise, the addition of Inside Out’s joy and sorrow in the parks before anyone knew Inside Out 2 was in development shows a similar strategy.